gimbal vs contraption

gimbal and contraption both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
gimbal	Yes	No	No	No
contraption	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, contraption is a hypernym of gimbal; that is, contraption is a word with a broader meaning than gimbal:

gimbal: an appliance that allows an object (such as a ship's compass) to remain horizontal even as its support tips
contraption: a device or control that is very useful for a particular job

Other hypernyms of gimbal include appliance, contrivance, convenience, gadget, gismo, gizmo, widget.

gimbal (noun)	contraption (noun)
an appliance that allows an object (such as a ship's compass) to remain horizontal even as its support tips	a device or control that is very useful for a particular job